Classifying Personality
types – divides people into categories
- discontinuous: one or the other
traits – personality dimensions
- people differ in the amount of a characteristic they have
Allport and the Individual
- emphasizes conscious motivation
- determined by the present rather than the past
- behavior is internally consistent
- focused on the psychologically mature person
- idiographic approach: each person is unique – studies individuals
(vs. nomothetic: people share universals – studies groups)
"Personality is the dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that determine his characteristic behavior and thought" (Allport, 1961).
Trait – a "neuropsychic system"
- unique to the individual
- "renders many stimuli functionally equivalent": patterns perceptions
- guides behavior in consistent ways
Cardinal trait – pervasively influences nearly all a person's behaviors
Christ-like
Machiavellian
Napoleonic
Sadistic
Byronic
Central traits – control a person's behavior in a variety of situations.
- kind
- intelligent
- ambitious
- competitive
"Central traits are those usually mentioned in letters of recommendation, in rating scales where the rater stars the outstanding characteristics of the individual, or in brief verbal descriptions of a person" (Allport, 1937).
Secondary traits - characteristics that are peripheral to the person
- usually less important overall
- less often called into play
- preference for pasta, action movies
Evaluating Gordon Allport
- father of American personality psychology
- theory didn't stand up well to testing
- led the way for later trait theories
- stressed the human capacity for continued and active growth
Dostları ilə paylaş: |